


Sometimes You Just Need A Hug

by writingonpostcards



Series: Tumblr Ficlets - Check, Please! [17]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-09
Updated: 2017-11-09
Packaged: 2019-01-31 03:39:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12673650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingonpostcards/pseuds/writingonpostcards
Summary: Jack stares at his wall as he thinks it over. He could walk across the hall right now and knock on Bitty’s door and then he’d be there and he could just open his arms and Bitty would fall right into them and he’d finally be holding Bitty right where he wants him.





	Sometimes You Just Need A Hug

_Sometimes you just need a hug._

The latest tweet of Bitty’s sits there staring at Jack from the top of his feed.

He’d found the account a few weeks back and he never built up the courage to let Bitty know. This might be the right time though.

Jack stares at his wall as he thinks it over. He could walk across the hall right now and knock on Bitty’s door and then he’d be there and he could just open his arms and Bitty would fall right into them and he’d finally be holding Bitty right where he wants him. Finally be able to see how far around his arms stretch across Bitty’s back, finally resting his chin on the top of Bitty’s mess of blonde hair, feeling Bitty’s breath fan across his chest.

Jack clutches his phone. 

Or he could just stay here. Stay safe and keep this all as a possibility. Maybe it’s better than way. Keep him and Bitty and something that _could be_. If he goes over there and he gets rejected, that would just ruin him. It would become a _never be_.

He looks at the tweet again. 

He knows that exact feeling. Having a horrible day and feeling absolute shit and telling yourself to just stand up and do something or call someone or just anything to get you out of your head. Riding that edge of frustration and terror, not sure whether you want to yell or cry or sleep.

Telling yourself to get over it before someone asks whether you’re okay and you have to lie, and also desperately hoping that someone notices.

He stands up, phone still clutched in his hand. He’s going to do it.

He walks across the hall and knocks.

“Come in.”

Jack opens the door slowly, not sure what to expect. Bitty crying? Bitty curled up in bed? Bitty pulling on the ears of his stuffed rabbit?

Bitty’s standing in the middle of his room, his own phone in his hand, which he’s twisting round and round and round.

“I just,” _saw your tweet,_ “wanted to check in.”

Bitty smiles at him. Big, sure, but not as bright as any of his true smiles. “Jack, that’s very sweet of you. I’m okay. I’m doing fine.”

Jack stands unsure in Bitty’s room. He knows Bitty isn’t fine. Bitty isn’t fine because his tweets have been off all day. Jack doesn’t want to force Bitty, he just wishes Bitty would force _himself_. Bitty’s always squishing down his own needs for the team and Jack aches for him to do something for himself.

“Do you want to bake something? I could help?” Jack isn’t sure how much help he’d be, but it’s one of the only things he knows that can take Bitty away from whatever is bothering him.

“No thank you, Jack. I don’t feel like baking right now.”

Jack frowns.

“Bitty, I just want–” He stops himself before he oversteps. He wants Bitty to want things for himself, by his own volition. He doesn’t want to force Bitty towards that. “Okay.”

“Jack? What do you want?” Bitty steps closer to him and Jack gets overwhelmed easily by it, by how he can smell Bitty now. Coconut shampoo and freshly washed clothes.

“I just want you to _let go_.” It comes out before Jack can think of a better way to word it. 

He looks to Bitty, who thankfully only looks confused. Not angry or sad or disgusted or any of Jack’s worst fears.

He’s the one to step closer this time, after he thinks over how to actually explain the thoughts inside him. “I only mean, you always put other people’s needs ahead of yours, and it’s okay to put yourself first sometimes. I need you to know that.”

Bitty sucks in a breath and turns his head away. Jack can see his eyes getting glassy, which makes him feel so bad for coming in here. He thinks he’s made whatever Bitty was feeling worse, and not better at all. His well meaning lost in his inability to convey what he’s feeling with proper sentences.

“It can be hard, I know.” Bitty nods his head minutely and Jack’s so relieved he smiles.

Jack can sense that Bitty’s on the edge of something; speaking, or crying maybe.

He takes a step back, then another. He’ll give Bitty this moment of privacy and hope that his words were enough this time. It’s not the hug, but maybe, for Bitty, asking for that in person is too much for a first step.

“I’ll be in my room,” Jack says softly, then leaves, shutting Bitty’s door behind him.

He keeps his own door open all the way, a clear invitation if Bitty decides to ask for something after all.

Jack puts his phone on his desk and picks up a book without checking what it is. He has a feeling, a hope, that Bitty will come.

He does.

Bitty’s door creaks open and Jack keeps his eyes locked on his book, not wanting to pressure Bitty. He waits until the hesitant knock on his door frame, then looks up.

Bitty looks shaken, his arms crossed defensively across his chest, his head dropped ever so slightly. 

He looks at Jack’s carpet as he open his mouth, closes it again. Takes in a deep breath and squeezes himself tighter.

“I want–” Bitty’s voice cracks.

Jack watches him breathe in and out, still looking down at the carpet. It hurts Jack to see Bitty like this. But it’s… the importance of this moment for them is a good thing; Bitty dropping his facade, Bitty _letting go_.

“Hold me,” Bitty finally manages to whisper.

Jack closes his book without marking his place. “Come here.”

Bitty looks to him finally, eyes wide like maybe he hadn’t expected Jack to say yes. Like he thought it was stupid to ask for and he was going to be rejected. Jack never would. There will be a time later to tell Bitty that.

For now, he pats the space next to him on the bed and watches Bitty slowly walk over and sit there. Bitty leaves a gap between them but when his eyes lock on Jack’s, it doesn’t feel like there’s any space at all. Jack moves himself slowly closer, so their thighs press together. Bitty bites his bottom lip but a little noise slips out anyway.

Jack gently moves Bitty’s arms, maneuvering them so they wrap around his own torso, then twists so he can wrap his arms comfortably around Bitty’s shoulders, and press his hands flat across his back.

Bitty’s stiff for one, two, three, four seconds, and then he drops. Tension gone as he leans into Jack’s body and wraps his arms tighter around Jack. A deep breath rattling its way into Bitty’s body.

Jack drops his head down against Bitty’s and just holds on.

Bitty feels small but solid against him, easily fitting under Jack’s arms. There’s a strength to the way his fingers press into Jack’s back, which decreases bit by bit as Bitty’s breathing levels out, and he relaxes further into Jack.

Eventually, Bitty turns his head into Jack’s shirt and breathes deeply with his mouth pressed against the fabric. Jack smiles.

Bitty sighs out and then pulls away from Jack, his hands dragging along Jack as he brings them back into his lap.

Jack drops his own arms, but leaves one sitting behind Bitty’s back, gently pressing along it.

Bitty reaches out to the damp spot he loft on Jack’s shirt and rubs it. Jack watches his hands move. 

“Thank you.” Bitty’s fingers slow then withdraw.

“Thank you for asking.”

Bitty nods. “I might, again… sometime.”

“Anytime,” Jack reassures him.

“Okay.” Bitty nods again, then he stands and looks down at Jack for a moment before retreating to his own room.

At the door frame he pauses and turns back to Jack. This time when he smiles, it’s real.

**Author's Note:**

> originally on [tumblr](http://17piesinseptember.tumblr.com/post/151723704691/sometimes-you-just-need-a-hug-the-latest-tweet-of)


End file.
